The Elementor page builder has just released a new platform called Elementor Cloud, billed as the fastest way to create WordPress website. It's currently in beta phase, and there's a waiting list to get access. In this article, we want to discuss what Elementor Cloud actually is, the offering that it is presenting to consumers, and what it means for the future of the builder.

In a major announcement, Elementor published information and a landing page related to Elementor Cloud on December 7, 2020. It allows anybody to create a fully hosted, professional WordPress website with Elementor in minutes. The main selling proposition is the fact that it's “easy to start the project, and faster to finish it”.

What Is Elementor Cloud?

Elementor Cloud is a managed hosting platform offered by Elementor to consumers. The company manages performance, set up, and security, and all you need to do is build the website. Elementor and Elementor Pro is pre-installed on the WordPress installation. Essentially, this is a product offering to a beginner consumer who doesn't want to worry about selecting a hosting provider, configuring WordPress, connecting the domain, installing Caching and Performance Plugins, worrying about security, and more.

Instead, it's a one click installation, Elementor comes pre-installed, and the consumer just needs to build out the website.

We haven't had access to this platform yet, but we are assuming that it will function just like Bluehost, or another beginner oriented WordPress hosting platform.

How Much Does It Cost?

They haven't announced how much the Elementor Cloud platform will cost, but there is a 21 day free trial (not available yet), and during that trial all features are fully available. Once this trial ends, you can choose to upgrade, or you have a 10 day grace period where there is limited access to the website. Subscriptions or managed from the Elementor website account panel.

It looks like this will give you access to elemental elemental pro bundle directly into the price, so expect it to be somewhere above $49 per year. Of course, this is speculation, and there's no real information surrounding how much Elementor Cloud will cost as of December 8, 2020.

How Does It Work?

Everything related to Elementor Cloud is managed from the account dashboard found on the Elementor website. The Elementor Cloud dashboard simply is an extension of the existing platform. There are three major panels, including websites, subscriptions, and support. For each website you create, you can easily attach a domain name, manage your billing info, and more.

Several Plugins Are Incompatible

Several popular plug-ins are incompatible with the new elemental cloud offering, such as W3 total cache, Oxygen Builder, Really Simple SSL, Heartbeat Control, and Limit Login Attempts reloaded.

This is similar to other managed hosting platforms - they remove any plugin that offers too much access to the backend of the website or has performance problems as it could easily break the Hosting installation.

What We’d Like To Know

• As this offering is recently announced, there's not much more information that can be found. We would like to know a few things. First, how is the hosting set up. Is it standard shared hosting?
• What is the performance optimization like? (as this is a major concern with any Elementor website).
• Of course, what’s the pricing?
• How will this work with existing plans/licenses? As an addon service?
• Will there be any benefits for agencies?
• Finally, What is the actual infrastructure that they are using? I'm assuming that they're probably white labeling another hosting offering, so who are they using on the backend?

We will answer these questions and more as we get more information surrounding the Elementor Cloud offering.

What Elementor Cloud Means For The Future Of The Tool

For now, this is a major development in the history of the page builder tool.

We have predicted, for many years, that Gutenberg will become the predominant page builder for the majority of people using WordPress in the future. This opinion seems to be the majority throughout the WordPress community. With that, existing page builders are going to need to find ways to diversify their customers, and “leave” WordPress.

I definitely see the final form of the Elementor Page Builder resembling something more of an SAAS offering, rather than a third-party WordPress plug-in. I believe but this is the first step to a completely Elementor-branded Platform, which doesn't even mention that it runs on WordPress.

Eventually, at least in my opinion, Elementor will probably resemble something more like Wix (but better).

We are actually seeing this with other page builders. The most notable offering that has a “decoupled” version is Brizy. Brizy is a page builder plugin, but they also offer Brizy Cloud, which is exactly what Elementor’s new Cloud offering is.

We will monitor any developments surrounding the new Elementor Cloud release, pricing, or any other information, and update this article accordingly.